James Arter Music

Musician/Music Producer

I'm a freelance producer based in London, England.
Available for remote mixing/mastering and session work. Or, production in person at Wandsworth Studios, London.
Multi-instrumentalist (vocals, guitar, piano, bass, drums, programming) and hold a First Class BA (hons) degree in Music Technology.

I work with all genres and am comfortable with both organic/live and electronic instruments. Always up for a new project, whether it be in the mixing world or producing.

If you need instruments added or replaced in your track(s) I'm happy to record parts and send them back to you, to slot into your tracks - all recorded to a high standard and at top quality from my studio.

There's lots of examples of my work on my website, more on my SoundCloud and a taster showreel on this page.

Also work regularly at Wandsworth Studios, in SW London, where we have a great setup, high quality equipment and extremely competitive rates. As for a quote!

Please feel free to get in touch with anything you require.

Thanks,
James

www.jamesarter.com
www.soundcloud.com/jamesartermusic

www.WandsworthStudios.com

I'd love to hear about your project. Click the 'Contact' button above to get in touch.

Great engineer to work with. Clean mix for affordable price.
Does exactly what you want till its done!
Its a Pleasure

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by kathleen O'shaughnessy

James is massivley talented as a musician and producer. Not only did he make me feel at ease and have a great laugh, he would listen and make sure he completely got an understanding of what I wanted in my music and using his own knowledge and experiences to give me helpful tips and suggestions. A man with awesome talent & down to earth manner.

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by James Eggleton

From the first moment you explain the idea to the final product, James manages to allow you express yourself with an eery sense that he knows exactly what you want to create. He has a timeless patience which gives you the freedom to experiment but safe in the knowledge he will pull you back if you start to wander from your personal goal.

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by Dominic Wolf

James is very easy to work with, he will understand and easily find any sounds one might be looking for to include in a track. I could not be happier with the way our recording sessions went and how my tracks sounded at the end. With no doubt the best producer I ever worked with !

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by Eloise Rees

James produced a number of tracks for my debut E.P and is most defiantly the best producer I have ever worked with. He is calming,encouraging and a very talented engineer. I feel that working with James makes the recording an extremely enjoyable collaborative process. I am over the moon with the what we have achieved. I highly recommend!

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by Jon Evans

I cannot recommend James enough. Not only is he an absolute whiz with the technical side of recording, he is very easy to work with, and he is full of creative production ideas.

He is excellent at what he does. Our tracks came out so huge, clear and professional sounding that we were blown away. Many thanks.

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by Allison McCafferty

James has worked on a number of tracks for artists that I deal with, I find him to be professional, courteous and able to deal with my 'not so technical' terminology very patiently! Not only does he do what is asked but he often gives suggestions to improve tracks further and goes above and beyond. I recommend him to others without hesitation...

Interview with James Arter Music

Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?

A: Just wrapped one up that's in production at the moment, a live recording of The Temperance Movement, at YouTube Space in London.
I set up the whole thing on the audio side, enabling a live sound engineer and recording engineer to come in and get started straight away. It was something I'd not done solo before and was a big achievement for myself - really looking forward to hearing/seeing the final results!

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I'm in the middle of a few different things. Specifically, a rap album and a country/rock/pop album. Both are great to work on and both are of a very high standard, I'm extremely proud of them and looking forward to people hearing them!

Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?

A: Yes, Darren Carikas of Ghost Machine Studios. He's a good friend of mine and a phenomenal producer, mixer, engineer and musician - if you're working with him, you're in great hands.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Both.
Analog sounds wonderful and can be extremely musical.
Digital is majestically convenient and is getting better day by day; it's becoming nearly limitless.

Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?

A: I will get the best I can out of you and your songs.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: The variety and the fact that I'm making music every day - that was the plan from as far back as I can remember!

A: The song is the most important thing and is the only ego that should be pandered to.

Q: What type of music do you usually work on?

A: All different types. It tends to be more organic genres (music with real instruments) but I also do work a lot with electronic music and rap etc.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Interpreting ideas, seeing a vision in a song and turning it into a full production and, therefore, realising it's full potential.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: My heart and soul. Every song I work on takes a piece of me with it; I commit to everything, regardless of genre.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: Totally depends on the job really. Generally, if it's a song or idea, I want to hear it in full and then find out as much from the artist as possible - what it's about, where they want it to go, what feeling they want to get from it, what time of music they listen to etc etc. I collect as much information I can from them to try to get inside their heads and to see the vision from their perspective. Then I find a way to translate that into a production.
If it's a band, then I like to hear them play the song(s) together, see how they interact with each other, and then work on the arrangement and what needs to be done to make the song as focused as possible.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: Mixing is a small in-the-box setup, with UA converters and Dynaudio monitoring.
I use all the favourite plugins - Slate Digital, UAD, Waves, FabFilter etc - but, of course - as we all know - it's all about the ears!
Studiowise, I use a couple of different ones, depending on the application. The main one I use has a great setup, comprising of a Trident console, a bunch of great pres (Neve, Avalon, UA), a selection of synths (Moog, Roland), a decent selection of mics (Shure, AKG, Neumann) and two decent sized, acoustically treated rooms - control room and live room.
I also have the option to use larger studios, if the project and budget permits.

Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?

A: There are far too many to list as there is so much amazing talent out there. However, Chris Cornell was easily the best rock singer of my generation and many to come - his passing was a tremendous loss, yet has left so much inspiration and has set a nearly impossibly high musical benchmark.
Kendrick Lamar is currently one of our most important rappers and possibly performers, in my opinion.
Andrew Schepps is a hugely talented mix engineer and his methods have become the foundation to my mix setup.

Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.

A: I work with a lot of solo artists - I love turning their songs and ideas into full productions.
I do a lot of mixing - usually, a song or two per week - and absolutely love it.
I also work with bands, when I can - this is something I'm very passionate about and am always on the lookout for more to work with.